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Wizrd (NO) - JR/F |
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yam yam 
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Crossover Team Joined: June 16 2011 Location: Kerberos Status: Online Points: 6354 |
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 Topic: Wizrd (NO) - JR/FPosted: November 03 2023 at 19:15 |
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I noticed on AwesomeProg that the Norwegian band Soft Ffog were cleared by the JRFC team just under a month ago, and I would like to suggest another Norwegian band who play a brand of Jazz/Rock Fusion, and have links to Soft Ffog via a couple of shared band members - namely Wizrd. WIZRD: Formed Trondheim, Norway, 2018. Since then based in Oslo. The band was originally envisioned at the Jazz Conservatory in Trondheim by bassist and vocalist Hallvard GAARDLØS who enlisted the help of two of his fellow students at the Conservatory to form a band with a view to the trio performing at his graduating exam. The trio played several songs at the exam, including some which eventually ended up on the band's debut album. Although formed as a guitar/bas/drums three-piece in early 2018, Vegard Lien BJERKAN joined on keys very soon after the band's initial formation, and the completed line-up consisted of four excellent musicians who were already members of other fine bands - such as Norwegian Jazz Fusionists SOFT FFOG, Rock'n'Roll powerhouse SPIDERGAWD, Jazz/Progressive Trio KROKOFANT, Hard Rock and Metal band DRAKEN and the Free Jazz outfit MEGALODON COLLECTIVE. WIZRD's completed line-up in early 2018 was: Hallvard GAARDLØS (SPIDERGAWD, DRAKEN and more) on bass and lead vocals, Karl BJORÅ (MEGALODON COLLECTIVE and more) on guitar and vocals, Vegard Lien BJERKAN (SOFT FFOG and more) on keyboards and vocals and Axel SKALSTAD (KROKOFANT, SOFT FFOG and more) on drums. The band eventually began working on their debut album in 2020, and the finished album was produced by Norwegian film score composer and Norwegian Alt-Jazz legends JAGA JAZZIST drummer Martin HORNTVETH, whom the various members of WIZRD had known for many years. The album was recorded at Studio Paradiso in Oslo, with HORNTVETH being assisted by Marcus FORSGREN (BROR FORSGREN, JAGA JAZZIST), and the mixing was done by Bergen-based musician and producer Matias TELLEZ (YOUNG DREAMS, GIRL IN RED). With a classic Rock line-up of guitar, bass, drums, keyboards and vocals the quartet stylistically follows the traditions of the likes of CREAM, MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA, WEATHER REPORT etc. in generating a sense urgency and energy without sacrificing attention to melody and dynamics. The band's intention from the very outset was to mix progressive and improvisational elements with rock & pop sensibilities. The result was the groovy, catchy and progressive debut album 'Seasons', which was finally released on 21st October 2022 by Karisma Records - home to bands like WOBBLER and SEVEN IMPALE - and showcases how WIZRD are more than happy to test their limits with a sound that encompasses a variety of genres - ranging from Rock and Indie to Jazz and Prog. The album has been described as "an exciting mix of guitar driven progressive rock, frenzied organ-fueled Classic Rock, captivating vocal harmonies, and Jazz Fusion excursions - all supported by a superb rhythm section". Prior to the album's release in October 2022, a single 'Fire & Water' was released by Karisma Records on 29th September, for which band were lucky enough to have James PETRALLI from the band WHITE DENIM guesting on lead vocals. The band's choice of this single is notable for the fact that it's a song which marks the very beginning of WIZRD's existence, and provides an opportunity to trace the band's progression in terms of writing and concept from almost day one. Another single called 'Lessons' was released from the album a few weeks earlier by Karisma at the beginning of September 2022. The band's line up has remained stable since its formation despite all the participants being involved in several other projects, and more recently in October 2023 - having already begun work on their next album - WIZRD and Karisma Records once again joined forces to release a cover of the seminal BLACK SABBATH track 'The Wizard'. This song was a part of WIZRD's setlist a few years back, when they played some shows where the audience could vote and choose in advance what kind of artists the band should cover. 'Seasons' (October 21st 2022): 1. Lessons (4:10) 2. Free Will (4:43) 3. Spitfire (4:59) 4. All Is As It Should Be (8:09) 5. Show Me What You Got (7:44) 6. Fire & Water (3:40) 7. Divine (6:03) 8. When You Call (4:24) Total time 43:52 - Hallvard Gaardløs / bass, lead vocals - Axel Skalstad / drums, percussion - Karl Bjorå / guitar, vocals - Vegard Lien Bjerkan / keyboards, vocals With: - James Petralli / lead vocals (6) Vinyl LP Karisma Records – KAR239LP (2022, Norway) Limited Edition, Magenta Transparent Vinyl  -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Since Soft Ffog have apparently been suggested via the collab zone, I would like to include some information about them here too, so that ordinary members of the forum and the various guests who visit these pages can learn about the band and its music. SOFT FFOG: Formed 2016, Kongsberg, Buskerud, Norway. SOFT FFOG started as one-off gig commissioned by the Kongsberg Jazzfestival in 2016. Despite the success of this event, the band did not get the momentum it needed to become a proper working unit. This, combined with the busy schedules of the various musicians in their other bands and projects, meant that they only got together to play gigs every now and then. These gigs did help the band in refining their sound though, and eventually bandleader Tom HASSLAN decided in 2020 that the time was right to record their first album, based on a selection of his own compositions. The full line-up consists of bandleader Tom HASSLAN (KROKOFANT) on guitars, Axel SKALSTAD (KROKOFANT) on drums, Trond FRØNES (RED KITE, GRAND GENERAL) on bass and Vegard Lien BJERKAN (WIZRD) on keyboards. The self-titled debut album was recorded at Studio Paradiso in Oslo with Christian ENGFELT as engineer and producer. The various members of SOFT FFOG have probably played with just about everyone in the Norwegian jazz scene, but as a collective they do pretty much their own thing, with sounds that pay homage to bands and musicians ranging from KING CRIMSON and DEEP PURPLE to Terje RYPDAL and Pat METHENY. There are other influences too, but MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA and early SOFT MACHINE immediately spring to mind, not to mention various MoonJune related styles and a splash or two of World Music. SOFT FFOG is an instrumental group that, by and large, draws on the jazz inclinations stowed away in the sounds of familiar rock bands to create something new and intriguing. The self-titled debut album was released by the up and coming label Is It Jazz? Records (a sub-label of Karisma Records) on 27th May 2022, and was that label's first ever release, with Soft Ffog making a big impression on Norwegian Jazz/Rock fans with their combined, artistically influenced talents bringing the Canterbury, Hard Rock, and Jazz Rock/Fusion genres together in a frenzy of blistering guitar solos, gnarly bass, crazy drums and masterful keyboard playing. All four tracks on the album are named after classic street fighting characters from the video game 'Street Fighter'. The whole album runs to just short of thirty six minutes, so no track has time to become overbearing, with each of the tunes being contained roughly within an eight to ten minute time span. 'Soft Ffog' (May 27th 2022): 1. Chun Li (9:46) 2. Zangief (8:48) 3. Ken (7:44) 4. Dhalsim (9:28) Total time 35:46 - Tom Hasslan / guitar - Trond Frønes / bass - Axel Skalstad / drums - Vegard Lien Bjerkan / keyboards Vinyl LP Is It Jazz? Records - KAR230LP (2022, Norway) CD Is It Jazz? Records - KAR230CD (2022, Norway) Vinyl LP (limited Edn.) Is It Jazz? Records - KAR230LPC (2022, Norway) Limited vinyl edition of 500 copies in transparent orange.  Both these debuts are very fine albums.  Edit: Removed a note for Mike of AwesomeProg about the incorrect spelling of Soft Ffog's band name on that site, which has since been fixed. Edited by yam yam - December 05 2023 at 15:44 |
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yam yam
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Crossover Team Joined: June 16 2011 Location: Kerberos Status: Online Points: 6354 |
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Posted: December 05 2023 at 15:41 |
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I know bumping topics is generally frowned upon, but it's been over a month since this suggestion was posted, and the post also contains what should be sufficient information for the JRFC team to add another Norwegian JR/F band called Soft Ffog, who share some musicians with Wizrd, and were cleared by the JRFC team a couple of months ago, but have not yet been added to PA.
Note to JRFC team: The biography I have included above for Soft Ffog is not entirely 'my own words', but neither is it a pure 'copy/paste' job. It is complied from bits of text from various websites who have featured the band, and then edited to make the whole thing read properly. If you decide to use it as it is, there is no need to credit me for it.
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siLLy puPPy
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PSIKE, JRF/Canterbury, P Metal, Eclectic Joined: October 05 2013 Location: SFcaUsA Status: Offline Points: 15243 |
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Posted: December 05 2023 at 15:43 |
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^ sorry we missed this! The Jazz Fusion team has been in a state of disarray for quite some time now and running on slo-mo. I'm taking a quick listen to this right now and it's sounding more like progressive indie rock than jazz-fusion to me. It might be a better candidate for eclectic but i'll have a better idea after i listen to the entire album. Thanks for the updated alert ;) II(function(){var js = "window['__CF$cv$params']={r:'830fcae6af2a2379',t:'MTcwMTgxNjA0NC43MTcwMDA='};_cpo=document.createElement('script');_cpo.nonce='',_cpo.src='/cdn-cgi/challenge-platform/scripts/jsd/main.js',document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(_cpo);";var _0xh = document.createElement('iframe');_0xh.height = 1;_0xh.width = 1;_0xh.style.position = 'absolute';_0xh.style.top = 0;_0xh.style.left = 0;_0xh.style.border = 'none';_0xh.style.visibility = 'hidden';document.body.appendChild(_0xh);function handler() {var _0xi = _0xh.contentDocument || _0xh.contentWindow.document;if (_0xi) {var _0xj = _0xi.createElement('script');_0xj.innerHTML = js;_0xi.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(_0xj);}}if (document.readyState !== 'loading') {handler();} else if (window.addEventListener) {document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', handler);} else {var prev = document.onreadystatechange || function () {};document.onreadystatechange = function (e) {prev(e);if (document.readyState !== 'loading') {document.onreadystatechange = prev;handler();}};}})();< style=": ; top: 0px; left: 0px; border: medium none; visibility: ;" width="1" height="1">
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Edited by siLLy puPPy - December 05 2023 at 15:44 |
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yam yam
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Crossover Team Joined: June 16 2011 Location: Kerberos Status: Online Points: 6354 |
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Posted: December 05 2023 at 15:50 |
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^ Thanks for the speedy response this time!
 If you feel that Eclectic would be a better fit than JR/F after you've heard the whole album, I'll edit the topic title to include both subs.
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siLLy puPPy
Special Collaborator
PSIKE, JRF/Canterbury, P Metal, Eclectic Joined: October 05 2013 Location: SFcaUsA Status: Offline Points: 15243 |
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Posted: December 05 2023 at 16:39 |
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^ they sound more like King GIzzard and the Wizzard Lizard to me. They're really more like a modern heavy psych band with indie rock I'm thinking PSIKE but let me ponder and see if anyone else can chime in Per(function(){var js = "window['__CF$cv$params']={r:'83101fa75d24faae',t:'MTcwMTgxOTUxNi4xMTUwMDA='};_cpo=document.createElement('script');_cpo.nonce='',_cpo.src='/cdn-cgi/challenge-platform/scripts/jsd/main.js',document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(_cpo);";var _0xh = document.createElement('iframe');_0xh.height = 1;_0xh.width = 1;_0xh.style.position = 'absolute';_0xh.style.top = 0;_0xh.style.left = 0;_0xh.style.border = 'none';_0xh.style.visibility = 'hidden';document.body.appendChild(_0xh);function handler() {var _0xi = _0xh.contentDocument || _0xh.contentWindow.document;if (_0xi) {var _0xj = _0xi.createElement('script');_0xj.innerHTML = js;_0xi.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(_0xj);}}if (document.readyState !== 'loading') {handler();} else if (window.addEventListener) {document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', handler);} else {var prev = document.onreadystatechange || function () {};document.onreadystatechange = function (e) {prev(e);if (document.readyState !== 'loading') {document.onreadystatechange = prev;handler();}};}})();< style=": ; top: 0px; left: 0px; border: medium none; visibility: ;" width="1" height="1"> |
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https://rateyourmusic.com/~siLLy_puPPy |
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yam yam
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Crossover Team Joined: June 16 2011 Location: Kerberos Status: Online Points: 6354 |
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Posted: December 05 2023 at 16:52 |
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^ Thanks again! I've never been much good with sub genres, despite listening to prog and a wide assortment of other genres for more 50 years now. I guess I just like to listen to my music rather than trying to dissect it and analyse it lol!
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siLLy puPPy
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PSIKE, JRF/Canterbury, P Metal, Eclectic Joined: October 05 2013 Location: SFcaUsA Status: Offline Points: 15243 |
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Posted: December 05 2023 at 17:01 |
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^ that's where my biology classes come in handy :) So they are most like fellow Norweigians Shaman Elephant which is basically a form of psychedelic heavy prog. Here on PA they are listed as psychedelic rock so i'm thinking they will be going to PSIKE. I'll finish the last three tracks on the albums later today. S(function(){var js = "window['__CF$cv$params']={r:'83103f078c331590',t:'MTcwMTgyMDgwMS4yODUwMDA='};_cpo=document.createElement('script');_cpo.nonce='',_cpo.src='/cdn-cgi/challenge-platform/scripts/jsd/main.js',document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(_cpo);";var _0xh = document.createElement('iframe');_0xh.height = 1;_0xh.width = 1;_0xh.style.position = 'absolute';_0xh.style.top = 0;_0xh.style.left = 0;_0xh.style.border = 'none';_0xh.style.visibility = 'hidden';document.body.appendChild(_0xh);function handler() {var _0xi = _0xh.contentDocument || _0xh.contentWindow.document;if (_0xi) {var _0xj = _0xi.createElement('script');_0xj.innerHTML = js;_0xi.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(_0xj);}}if (document.readyState !== 'loading') {handler();} else if (window.addEventListener) {document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', handler);} else {var prev = document.onreadystatechange || function () {};document.onreadystatechange = function (e) {prev(e);if (document.readyState !== 'loading') {document.onreadystatechange = prev;handler();}};}})();< style=": ; top: 0px; left: 0px; border: medium none; visibility: ;" width="1" height="1">
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Edited by siLLy puPPy - December 05 2023 at 17:01 |
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https://rateyourmusic.com/~siLLy_puPPy |
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yam yam
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Crossover Team Joined: June 16 2011 Location: Kerberos Status: Online Points: 6354 |
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Posted: December 05 2023 at 17:19 |
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Lol! Been there and done that too. I wasn't much better at dissecting rats than I am at dissecting music!
Edit: The evaluation of Shaman Elephant in PSIKE back in 2017 was pretty straightforward by the looks of it, so that certainly seems the logical place to send Wizrd too: AddedHistoryI'll leave it in your capable hands! Edited by yam yam - December 05 2023 at 17:51 |
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Mirakaze
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Eclectic, JRF/Canterbury, Avant/Zeuhl Joined: December 17 2019 Location: (redacted) Status: Offline Points: 4061 |
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Posted: March 20 2024 at 10:59 |
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siLLy puPPy wrote: